The Norman Conquest
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4.4 • 7 Ratings
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
‘I loved it. A suitably epic account of one of the most seismic and far-reaching events in British history’ Dan Snow
An upstart French duke who sets out to conquer the most powerful and unified kingdom in Christendom. An invasion force on a scale not seen since the days of the Romans. One of the bloodiest and most decisive battles ever fought.
Going beyond the familiar outline, bestselling historian Marc Morris examines not only the tumultuous events that led up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but also the chaos that came in its wake – English rebellions, Viking invasions, the construction of hundreds of castles and the destruction of England’s ancient ruling class. Language, law, architecture, even attitudes towards life itself, were altered forever by the Norman Conquest.
‘Retells the story of the Norman invasion with vim, vigour and narrative urgency’ Dan Jones, Sunday Times
‘A wonderful book’ Terry Jones
‘A much-needed, modern account of the Normans in England’ The Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Morris (A Great and Terrible King) brilliantly revisits the Norman Conquest, "the single most important event in English history," by following the body-strewn fortunes of its key players: England's King Edward the Confessor; his hated father-in-law and England's premier earl, Godwine; Harold II, the prior's son and England's last Anglo-Saxon king; and Edward's cousin William, the fearsome duke of Normandy, known by contemporaries as "the Bastard" and by posterity as "the Conqueror." Miraculously surviving a Viking invasion, exile, the death of six older half-brothers (from battle, illness, and execution), and his mother's perfidies, Edward a descendant of Alfred the Great took the English crown but was dominated by his father-in-law. Yet to Godwine's chagrin, Edward chose William as his successor in return for his loyalty. Nevertheless, after Edward's death, Harold snatched the crown, setting in motion William's invasion and his own death at the supremely gory Battle of Hastings. In England, William and the Normans ended slavery, dispossessed the English ruling elite of their lands, ushered in an architectural revolution, zealously reformed the Church, and savagely starved the north into submission. Readable, authoritative, and remarkably nuanced, Morris's history is sublime. 8 pages of color illus., two maps, and two family trees.
